International futures programme

OECD Space Forum

More than 50 countries have satellites in orbit, and satellite signals and data play an increasingly pivotal role in the efficient functioning of societies and their economic development. In co-operation with the space community, the OECD Space Forum was established to assist governments, space-related agencies and the private sector to better identify the statistical contours of the space sector, while investigating space infrastructure’s economic significance, its role in innovation and potential impacts for the larger economy. This unique international platform contributes to constructive dialogue between stakeholders and exchanges of best practices.

Fact sheets

Space and the economy

The number of countries and companies investing in space technologies and their downstream applications continues to grow. A symposium on The Economic Impacts of Space Technologies was held at the OECD Headquarters in Paris on 23 October 2014.

The symposium highlighted some of the key results from ongoing OECD work on the economic dimensions of space research and development, including findings on the space sector’s global value chains and a review of innovation dynamics that may revolutionise the sector.

During the event, major findings from the newly released edition of The Space Economy at a Glance were presented. Opening remarks by OECD Secretary-General William Danvers summarised the main findings. Highlights from the event were posted on Twitter: #OECDspace

Held back-to-back with its symposium on The Economic Impacts of Space Technologies,the OECD Space Forum Steering Group met in Paris at OECD Headquarters on 24 October 2014, to review work conducted, and to discuss, plan, shape and prioritise activities for 2015-16. One major forthcoming output will be the enriched and updated OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy. A consultation process and several workshops will be organised in 2015 to gather the views of stakeholders (ministries, agencies, industry, academia…).

The IAF Space Economy Technical Committee met on 30 September in Toronto during the International Astronautical Congress to discuss economic impacts methods. The annual economic session “The space economy: what are the socio-economic impacts?” was also held at the Congress on 1 October with 12 papers from academia and the public and private sectors.

A very informative workshop on the impacts of national investments in the space sector took place on 13 June 2014, at the OECD with some 30 participants from public agencies and the private sector.

An OECD workshop on global value chains in the space sector took place in Washington DC, on 14 March 2014, co-organised with NASA. This was a follow-up workshop to the one organised at the OECD in October 2013.

A January 2014 report from IFRI on “Governing the Geostationary Orbit: Orbital Slots and Spectrum Use in an Era of Interference” features selected findings from the OECD Space Forum on interferences of satellite signals.